Looked up the clip, all I can say is Wow. On a lighter note, i hope your enjoying Japan! Where is RE Anemia? I'm heading over again in feb and have already booked my Mazda museum tour in Hiroshima! Can't wait. Looking forward to seeing more progress on the pillar-less rx4.Last question, do you have any other build threads for your 510 or other rides? Yeah I guess I should probably just do a search.... But hey why not ask.

So much for the free time to hit RE Anemiya.... Was on call to stay and fix the 787 fleet until the last possible minute to be able to make my scheduled flight. Oh well, more repair trips to Japan are coming, so I'll get to some of these places eventually...

Made it home for Thanksgiving- now it's shop time! Had to replace the radiator in the big Impala wagon, dry out the Z interior (that one has to live inside), and catch up on some house stuff.... Gonna play hooky from work until 12/3. After 2 months straight of travel/12hr days, I'm enjoying sleeping in and goofing off.

Sadly, I'm not allowed to post any pics of the repair... ANA isn't interested in letting you see one of their airplanes in such a disassembled state. I see it the other way- show those who are interested that they are super sturdy and that we can fix them when they get a little wrinkled.

Anyone see the gold Rx4 GTR on ebay? 25K miles, repainted, nice trim/int, missing 3 pieces of windshield molding. Spoke with (emailed) the seller, and he said he was flooded with 'theres no such car', 'Mazda never made those', etc... didn't see the final selling price, but it was in the $10K area last time I looked. Would have been smart money for me, as there's no way I'll have that small an amount in mine when I get to that point. Timing being what it is and all. Funny how it could have worked out- Car is in Georgia, I live in WA, but I got sent to New Orleans to fix a plane, and could have jumped over there and brought it home. Turns out that wouldn't have worked anyway, as on the last day of the repair, I was informed we are going to Qatar next to do the same repair there. Oh well.....someday...

Found an all original 74 Rx4 coupe, manual, AC, stored inside, solid car in Auburn, WA this week. Got a text pic of the drivers side, and wow did it look promising! Until....... I got hold of the guy. He was in contact with a buyer from Puerto Rico, and if the deal fell through, I was in the hunt. $3500 was the asking price.....

Gone.

Traded to said Puerto Rican for an Rx2.

Oh well. I keep saying these cars are out there, and this just proves it. I will find one for parts/sheetmetal for the GTR. I'm hoping to find one with nice steel, and dead everything else, but, its usually the steel that craps out first.

Best of luck to both owners getting new(to them)old school Mazda's.

I need good floors. Everything else is workable/upgradable. Tin worm is a bastard.

Get a call from the guy with the Rx4-says I can have it if I want. I asked what happened with the guy from PR, and am told that transport costs for the trade would be $6700, so no deal.

I tell him I need to come see the car in person, obviuosly, and if he could send me pics that would help. I get about a dozen pics of what is a partially dis-assembled car-not bad, but the front and rear facias (grill, bumpers, taillight surround, etc) are off, and it looks like it was recently ran into something on the passenger front, wrinking the fender pretty good, tweaking the core support and bumper end. Front and rear valances are pretty hammered, in fact, I don't recall even seeing a front one. Interior is a mess, glove box door hanging, cracks all over the gauge cluster, etc... Nicest part I see I see is the tail light panel- appears perfect.

No engine pics, no detailed pics of the areas that we NEED to see(floors, rockers, trunk, etc). Never got to the question of paperwork/title.

I tell him there's no way I'd go for $3500, even if the parts I need to be good, are good. He repsonds with a 'Thanks, but it's not negotiable. I'm putting it on ebay'. I wish him 'good luck', and thats where it ends.

For reference, I gave $800.00 for the GTR, and visually/mechanically it is in better in some areas, and worse in others, condition than this one. If this was a 'well preserved' driver that I found in a little old lady's garage (what I'm hoping someday to find), then sure, but this is not that.

In the same vein- are the floor structures the same for all Rx4's? that would 'widen' my search area for the parts and pieces I'm needing.

As far as I'm aware all the rx4's share the same chassis as the 929's. I have a '74 929 sedan (flatnose) and I compared it to an original '74 rx4 sedan the only difference was obviously the motor/box and rear quater badges 929/rx4. The rest is exactly the same. So if you can find a good '73/4/5 piston powered coupe it'll be a perfect donor. obviously the chassis numbers will be different (prefixes). Good luck with the hunt.

If memory serves, we didn't get a piston version of the Rx4. I've never heard of, much less seen one here. Anyone else in the states run across one? It seems I'll have better luck finding a later (75-78) series Rx4 at a 'better' price than the (single year/style) 74, and if the floor structure is the same, then it'll be game on.

I am in Boston, fixing the BBQ'd 787. No real flames, just an excess amount of heat (500 deg) from the battery. I actually took apart the burnt structure, and am repairing it. I'm going to be here for a while... lots of serious scrutiny (justifiably) on us on this one.... BSET JOB EVER.... Watch the news... that should give you an idea of the level of scrutiny we are working under all the time...

Sadly, this means I'm away from all the JNC at my house, waiting for me to have free time (HA!).....

So, my last post was late Feb.... And I'm typing this from Boston....still.... I got to go home for 6 days after the battery fire damage repair, and came back April 5th for the battery mod. We are done, will be 'pre-flighting' tomorrow, and flight test is wednesday. I would imagine there will be some mention of the plane being in the air again in the media, but who knows. The airplane 'woke-up' really happy after being shut down for 3 1/2 months, and having us replace the entire aft electronics bay and tons of wiring, but thats why we exist. No one else is gonna be able to do it.

Just a quick bump to the top. Been awhile. I continue to search for decent sheetmetal. Any year/model Rx4 is a candidate. Prefer a 74 for all the obvious reasons. A whole car is best, but I'm interested in pieces as well.

Been travelling like mad for the last year or so. Got the call today that I'll be going to Melbourne, AU next month. Any of you close by enough to visit? If I could go for a ride in an old school Rotary from down under, that would be amazing! It will be my first time in Australia, and I'm really looking forward to going there.

Don't have much in the way of details yet, other than I'm scheduled to be there from 7/8-7/25. Hope to hear from some of you.

Been travelling like mad for the last year or so. Got the call today that I'll be going to Melbourne, AU next month. Any of you close by enough to visit? If I could go for a ride in an old school Rotary from down under, that would be amazing! It will be my first time in Australia, and I'm really looking forward to going there.

Don't have much in the way of details yet, other than I'm scheduled to be there from 7/8-7/25. Hope to hear from some of you.

There are lots of rotors in Aus.. most of them with huge chrome wheels though haha

Admittedly a lot of them do have stupid chrome wheels, a lot don't though.

There is a meet happening at the Garage Cafe in Carlton on the 19/7 (7/19 for you backwards ass yanks). There should be plenty of old schoolers there, but keeping in mind it's the middle of winter so a lot of guys might not bring the oldies out if it's pouring rain.